2nd Sunday in Ord Time, C

Sunday, January 20, 2019

This Sunday begins Ordinary Time in the Church, as Christmas time is over. After his baptism Jesus starts his public mission walking through the villages and cities of his country to proclaim the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven. This is exactly why He has come to finish his mission with his salutary death and resurrection. The first reading confirms it with the words of Isaiah the prophet who tells that the Messiah will come and he “will not be silent. For Jerusalem’s sake he will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch”. Thanks to Him, God will appear as a bridegroom for his people in whom He is pleased. “For the Lord delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As your man marries a virgin, your builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall God rejoice in you”. To this comparison of the bridegroom ties to the Gospel, that relates the presence of Jesus and his mother at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. We cannot see here Jesus only as a participant in the common and festival moment of human life, as in the case of a wedding, and other normal moments of life, which is very good. Nevertheless, in the light of the first reading today we should see here a broad lesson to our faith: Jesus appears as a Bride of the Church who comes to the wedding of his chosen bridegroom, the Church. This symbolical role of Jesus is presented by all theologians, starting with the first Fathers of the Church. The scene from Cana is full of allusions and symbolism in which we can see the preliminary announcement of the future work of salvation: the intervention of Mary who understands her son without words and will follow him in silence until his cross, and later she will accompany his Church as a powerful helper; drawing water from stone jars which serves for Jewish ceremonial washings; the water which on the words of Jesus will be transformed into wine is a sign of his salutary blood cleansing us from sins. “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee”.